Deer culling the best solution for Lyme disease control

I first wrote a news story about Lyme disease 20 years ago for the Washington Post, and actually interviewed Willy Burgdorfer, the scientist for whom the spirochete that infects humans with the debilitating disorder was named (Borrelia burgdorferi). Back then, there were reported cases in the District, Maryland and Virginia; they were not secluded to farm areas as Del. Susan Lee (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda stated at a recent county forum on Lyme disease. I pointed out then that there were even cases reported in downtown London, England, in Hyde Park, where a small population of deer reside.

In the past score of years, whitetails in our area have been increasing exponentially. They are by far the primary reason for the spread of Lyme disease, carrying the tick that transmits it to humans and other animals. During the early 1990s, I proposed a managed hunt to thin the herd and reduce the growing numbers of the disease in humans. That earned me a nomination of "Nitwit of the Week" on the G. Gordon Liddy radio show.

Soon afterward, managed hunts were implemented. They have been successful to some small degree, but the deer continue to flourish and grow in great numbers with no natural predators to keep them in check (for now, but coyotes are here, red wolves and eastern cougars may follow). They are everywhere: in backyards, near bus stops, in hospital fields, school grounds, on the edge of almost all county roads and highways, etc.

The forum pointed out that sterilization vaccines and treatment centers for deer that would kill ticks are thoughts that could help curb the spread of Lyme disease, but there are so many whitetails now that rounding them up in any large number would be too expensive and probably an impossibility to where it would have any meaningful effect on controlling deer ticks. In addition, our urban biodiversity is suffering, vegetation specifically, by the unchecked and ever-growing voracious browsers.

The county discussion on Lyme disease detection and prevention was really about controlling the proliferation of whitetails. Culling the deer population is the best solution for reducing the infestation of deer ticks, and doing so in urban areas is difficult task in deed. One possibility that should be considered is to dart the animals with tranquilizers by certified marksmen, transport them to county run centers where they could be euthanized as humanely as possible, and have the venison butchered, frozen and shipped off to soup kitchens to feed the hungry.